May 20, 2013 – NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog

Charlotte Bobcats plan to change name to Charlotte Hornets

Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan is changing his team’s name to the Hornets, said a person familiar with the situation.

The person said Jordan will detail the timetable for the change to be completed at a press conference the Bobcats have scheduled for Tuesday. The person spoke to The Associated Press Monday on condition of anonymity because the name change has not been publicly announced.

NBA deputy commissioner and COO Adam Silver previously said it would take ”about 18 months” for the Bobcats to change their name. That means Charlotte could once again become the Hornets by the 2014-15 season.

The Hornets resided in Charlotte from 1988-2002 before then-owner George Shinn moved the franchise to New Orleans.

The New Orleans Hornets recently changed their name to the Pelicans.

— Reported by Steve Reed of the Associated Press

Chris Hansen still wants to bring an NBA team to Seattle

Chris Hansen is not going away in his pursuit of bringing the NBA back to Seattle.

Hansen released a statement on his SonicsArena.com website on Monday afternoon, congratulating Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson on his efforts to keep the Kings in California, while also vowing to keep up his pursuit of getting the NBA back to Seattle.

”Even as we are disappointed with the developments related to our efforts to purchase the Kings, we would just like to reiterate our dedication to bringing the NBA back to Seattle,” Hansen wrote. ”We will continue to press forward with our arena plans with the same commitment and effort we have over the last two years, and look forward to working with the City (of Seattle) and (King) County to see the project through the hurdles that remain. Likewise, we plan to continue to work with the league regarding opportunities that may arise to return an NBA franchise to our City.”

— Reported by Tim Booth of the Associated Press

Magic try to follow Dwight Howard trade with NBA Draft Lottery luck

Pat Williams is pretty good at being lucky, and he’s got a hunch.

”I got a funny feeling that this could be another Magic year, here. For some reason, I’ve just got the feel,” Williams said.

Orlando sure could use it.

Following a difficult first season after trading Dwight Howard, the Magic are hoping Williams can bring them more lottery luck.

Armed with the best odds and their three-time winner back on stage, the Magic will try to jump-start the rebuilding process Tuesday night by landing the rights to the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.

Williams has won four times, including victories in 1992, ’93 and 2004 with the Magic. They used the most recent one to draft Howard, and no team since has entered with the best odds and won the lottery.

The Magic were back in the lottery the next two years but were busy playing in the postseason every spring since until this one, when they finished an NBA-worst 20-62 after sending Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers last August in a four-team deal.

That gives them a 25 percent chance at winning the rights to choose first in a draft that appears uncertain. Kentucky freshman Nerlens Noel is considered the top choice, though he could miss the first two months of the season while recovering from a torn ACL.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Carmelo Anthony to have shoulder examined

New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony will have his sore left shoulder examined by team doctors, the New York Daily News reported Monday.

The team is hoping that the injury is not serious and will not need surgery.

Anthony played much of the postseason in pain and it got worse during Game 5 of the first-round series against the Boston Celtics when Kevin Garnett pulled on his arm while setting a screen.

— Reported by the Sports Xchange

Toronto Raptors moving Bryan Colangelo out of basketball operations

The Toronto Raptors are moving executive Bryan Colangelo out of basketball operations and into a corporate position with the team.

Yahoo! Sports reported Monday that the Raptors are making the move because they are interested in hiring Denver Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri to take over their front office.

Colangelo has run the team’s basketball operations for seven years but the team has only made the playoffs twice during that span and is coming off a 34-48 season.

— Reported by the Sports Xchange

Ties broken for 2013 NBA Draft order

Four ties among teams that finished the 2012-13 NBA regular season with identical records were broken today through random drawings to help determine the order of selection for the 2013 NBA Draft, which will be held on Thursday, June 27.

The drawings were conducted earlier today in New York City by Jason Cahilly, NBA executive vice president, strategy and chief financial officer, and Dan Rube, NBA senior vice president and deputy general counsel. The tiebreaker process was overseen by Denise Pelli, a partner in the accounting firm of Ernst & Young.

The results of the drawings:

• Detroit (29-53) won a tiebreaker with Washington.

• Philadelphia (34-48) won a tiebreaker with Toronto.

• Houston (45-37) won a tiebreaker with Chicago and the L.A. Lakers; the Lakers then won a tiebreaker with Chicago.

• L.A. Clippers (56-26) won a tiebreaker with Memphis.

2013 NBA Draft Lottery info, date, time

The 2013 NBA Draft Lottery will be held at the Disney/ABC’s Times Square Studios in New York on Tuesday, May 21, and will be televised on ESPN at 8:25 p.m. EDT.

The 2013 NBA Draft Lottery will determine the order of selection for the first 14 picks of the 2013 NBA Draft, which will be held at Barclays Center, the home of the Brooklyn Nets, on June 27 at 7 p.m.

The NBA Draft Lottery’s origins trace back to June 1984, when at an NBA Board of Governors meeting in Salt Lake City, the league voted to adopt a lottery system among the non playoff teams to determine the order of selection in the first round of the NBA Draft beginning in 1985. This year will mark the tenth time in the event’s 29-year history that it is conducted in New York City.

The inaugural lottery was held on May 12, 1985 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, but from 1994 until last year, the event had been held at the NBA Entertainment Studios in Secaucus, N.J. however the league’s facilities in New Jersey no longer house a television studio.

2013 NBA DRAFT LOTTERY ODDS
(Chances of winning the No. 1 overall pick)

1) Orlando Magic: 25%
2) Charlotte Bobcats: 19.9%
3) Cleveland Cavaliers: 15.6%
4) Phoenix Suns: 11.9%
5) New Orleans Pelicans: 8.8%
6) Sacramento Kings: 6.3%
7) Detroit Pistons: 3.6%
8) Washington Wizards: 3.5%
9) Minnesota Timberwolves: 1.7%
10) Portland Trail Blazers: 1.0%
11) Philadelphia 76ers: 0.8%
12) Toronto Raptors: 0.7%
13) Dallas Mavericks: 0.6%
14) Utah Jazz: 0.5%

InsideHoops.com will provide full previews, coverage and recaps of all aspects of the 2013 NBA Draft

Andray Blatche had good season for Nets

When Blatche was amnestied by the Wizards last summer, some wondered if he would ever get another NBA job again after his tumultuous tenure in the nation’s capital, including sitting out most of last season, first with a calf injury and then because Washington simply didn’t want him around any longer.

But after going to work out with John Lucas in Houston over the summer, Blatche met with then-coach Avery Johnson, who was convinced to give Blatche a chance with the Nets, basically guaranteeing him a roster spot.

No one could have known it at the time, but it turned out to be a master stroke for the Nets, as Blatche wound up becoming one of the team’s key contributors this season. He was the only player to suit up and play in all 82 games, and teamed with Brook Lopez to form one of the NBA’s best 1-2 punches at the center spot, and easily its best from an offensive standpoint.

When given the opportunity, Blatche also was effective at times playing alongside Lopez, including in the playoffs against the Bulls.

The season wasn’t without its speed bumps for Blatche, however. He seemed to tail off a bit at times after the decision was made to fire Johnson, the man who had brought him to Brooklyn and placed him on a strict workout regimen to help keep him on the straight and narrow.

— Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post

Expect big role next year for Iman Shumpert

Next season, Carmelo Anthony’s main sidekick could be a healthy, emerging Iman Shumpert.

One major issue with the Knicks’ roster going forward is its lack of upside: The team is ancient, and few players have real room for NBA growth. One of the exceptions is Shumpert, who just emblazoned his second year as a pro with an electric playoff run, capped by his 3-pointer binge in Game 6 in Indianapolis that nearly saved the Knicks’ season.

Shumpert, an athletic 6-foot-5 swingman, turns 23 next month. He flashed his promise during the postseason: a terrific Game 6 against the Celtics (17 points, six rebounds, two steals), a sensational putback dunk in Game 2 versus the Pacers and a 16-point third quarter (including a trio of 3-pointers in 64 seconds) on Saturday.

“I just wanted to win,” Shumpert said of his Game 6 eruption.

— Reported by Mark Hale of the New York Post

Isiah Thomas earns master`s degree

Former Detroit Pistons ‘Bad Boy’ Isiah Thomas continued to keep busy in school after a Hall of Fame playing career and multiple years as a basketball coach. Today, it paid off for him.

Thomas graduated with a masters of education from the University of California at Berkeley, tweeting his cap and gown and retweeting congratulations to other UC Berkeley graduates.

He said in a recent Huffington Post story that he has “studied the connections between education and sports. In pursuing this degree, I have had the time to reflect on how we, as a society, make available access to education for athletes, especially black male athletes.”

— Reported by Brian Manzullo of the Detroit Free Press